To the Journal editor:

It’s here again! Another presidential election year. I’ve spent nearly 4 years trying to understand how the election of Donald Trump happened.

What stands out for me –among the reasons given for such strangeness–is the statistic that 82% of white evangelicals voted for him and that support has not significantly changed.

What makes this so puzzling is that this is the same group, that previous to Trump, built their political platform on the foundation of high ideals and Christian morality.

This is the same evangelical community who formerly spoke highly about the rule of law, propriety within government, fiscal responsibility, and insisted that the truth needed to be forthcoming from our nation’s leaders. Given the nation’s current state of affairs, I can’t help but ask these folks: have you forgotten those ideals that you once held up as praiseworthy?

By your unequivocal support of Donald Trump haven’t you necessarily traded those ideals for political power and a wholly unamerican Christian nationalism that’s built on Trump’s grotesque idea of what comprises greatness?

Many evangelicals will say that for them it boils down to one issue; actually one very narrowly defined issue. While I don’t intend to minimize the importance of any issue, might I suggest to you that there are many important issues, many that are critical for the future of this democracy, even extending to the world.

The complexities of life in America today are mind numbing and the natural tendency to easy, simplistic thinking is strong. It may be comforting to cloak our reasoning in religious conviction and feel we’ve done our part.

Shouldn’t our convictions require from us an effort to be more discriminating with our political support, realizing that who we choose to vote for will have real consequences beyond what may be our current narrow focus?

I urge the Trump evangelicals to reflect on the last 4 years much more critically and imagine the possible consequences of 4 more years of the same.

Dave Keranen

Ishpeming